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Winners
of the 2001 BACA award for excellence under the category of specialist
clock dealers, judged on
1. quality
of service, 2. consistent quality of stock, 3. depth
of knowledge.

Painted dials were first used
commercially on longcase clocks from about 1772
and for the first generation of thirty years
or so they fall into a readily-recognisable
pattern, which I call Period One. This period
is most easily characterised by its numbering
pattern of marking Roman hours and Arabic minutes,
numbered at every fifth unit. The following
remarks apply to clocks of this First Period
from this particular region.

1.
Conventional eight-day square dial longcase
in fine, book-matched mahogany of the best
'flame' type, made about 1790 by Archibald
Coates of Wigan. Click for closer view.

2.
Fine mahogany-cased clock of about 1795
by John Lees of Middleton (Manchester),
this example with triple-point Gothic door-top.
A new feature is the cluster columns carved
to resemble bamboo. Extra painting to the
dial centre (here two birds) is a feature
which appears from time to time on better
clocks. Click for closer view.

3. Detail to show the door of the John Lees
clock with its exceptional book-matched
veneers and the triple cluster columns to
the trunk sides. Click for closer view.

The dial-making partners of
Osborne and Wilson worked together in Birmingham
from 1772 till 1777, then separately and independently
till the end of the century. Almost all examples
of eighteenth century painted dials will be
found to have been made by one (or both) of
these two men, though there were one or two
other dial makers towards the end of the century,
whose work is known but who have not yet been
identified.

Eight-day white dial clocks
with moonwork were the most costly versions
available, though rocking figures came a close
second. For those who wanted ' the best', that
is the most costly version, then they could
opt for a moon dial with 'extra' painting in
the dial centre. One form of 'extra' was to
have the dial centre painted with two birds;
another was to have two sprays of flowers. But
perhaps the version to make the grandest statement
was to have the centre painted with a male and
female figure, often in a garden setting, or
sometimes pictured as a shepherd and shepherdess.
The centre figures might be on a white ground
or (usually later on) on a fully-painted central
panel. In fact it is difficult to imagine anyone
further away in real life from the humble shepherd
and shepherdess characters, than the wealthy
couple who first bought such a clock. But such
people sometimes saw themselves in this idyllic
pastoral setting, much as high society characters
in Jane Austen novels might act such parts in
charades and house-party plays.

Such a clock dial was the
personalised number plate of the day. Such a
clock said to all who saw it: 'This is my clock,
this is me, the owner, and this is my lady wife,
and this is our estate garden, and this the
magnificent case we had made for it, the finest
and grandest that money can buy'. And they were
right!

4.
Fine mahogany clock of about 1790 by John
Glover of St. Helens, this example with
fancy multiple string lines, shell &
panel inlays and full columns to the trunk.
Click for closer view.

5.
The hood of the John Glover clock showing
an 'extra' feature of two figures to the
dial centre - to symbolise the clock's owner
and his lady. Click for closer view.

6.
A detail of the base of the John Glover
clock showing exquisite cross-grain surrounds
with lines of multiple stringing. Click for closer view.

Oak examples of such clocks
exist, but the grandest of them are usually
in mahogany, known as the King of Woods, and
having to be shipped half way round the world
from the Americas before desperate cabinetmakers
could scramble through the dockyard timber stacks
to outbid each other for the finest cuts. There
are plain versions of mahogany clocks. But those
who wanted, and could afford, the best (most
desirable) clocks of the day, very often also
wanted the fanciest cases to show them off in.
The grandest of these First Period mahogany
cases were undoubtedly made in the North-west,
if we take that as being that north-west corner
of England from Birmingham upwards.

The best cases of this period
and region represent the very best cabinetmaking
skills ever witnessed in clock casework. The
style was that of the day and region, and that
was grand and flamboyant. Today's collectors
either love it or hate it. But whatever your
view of the style, the workmanship and materials
were of the very best and were never again equalled
later. These clocks are as good as it gets.

Initially the flame veneers
were chosen to use in book-matched form. Such
figuring, often described as 'flame' mahogany,
was rare and found only in those parts of the
tree where a branch joined the trunk - known
as 'crotch' mahogany. The main trunk section
of the case was of a straight and plain-grain
wood, fine for construction but boring if used
for the 'showy' areas on a clock - which were
the trunk door and the base. Those were the
largest two areas of timber and these places
were where the best-figured timbers were positioned.
These two areas sold the clock (and still do),
which everywhere else would have straight-grain
(and boring) timber.

7.
Fine eight-day clock by John Jones of Stockport
(Cheshire) having many stylistic features
of the previous clock. Squared pillars allow
additional inlay. Multi-book-matched veneers
make dazzling patterns. Click for closer view.

8.
The Jones hood in detail showing the sheer
scale of the inlaid panels and string lines.
Click for closer view.

9.
The Jones dial with fully-painted centre
showing an idyllic landscape with a shepherd
boy and shepherdess, who in fact stand for
the owner and his wife. Click for closer view.

These prime areas were veneered
in crotch mahogany, which was always used as
a veneer. Partly it was too costly to use in
solid form. But more to the point, it was also
unstable in solid form and would have been likely
to split, warp and tear itself apart by the
sheer stresses and pressures within the wood.
Therefore this fancy veneer was always laid
onto a background of more stable nature - plain-grain,
solid mahogany, or even plain-grain oak.

By the end of the century
marquetry inlays became popular - of shells
or fans, in multi-coloured woods. Shells proliferate
as inlays at this one period only, probably
a sort of shell mania derived from the fantastic
and exotic shells brought back by explorers
from Cook onwards from the far southern oceans.

These cases of the last quarter
of the century do progress in style as pillars
became bamboo-like in some examples and square-section
in others. Dials grew wider as time passed,
probably to allow more dial centre painting
and to provide wider cases offering more space
for inlay work.

Most such cases from this
region lack brass fittings, as the utmost possible
use was made of the cabinetmaker's skills. Capitals,
quarter-capitals, swan-neck paterae, even lock
escutcheons were almost always made of wood
with only essentials such as hinges being of
brass.